Sumangali's blogLife in the Sri Chinmoy Centre, and other stories...

I was pondering the subject of humility this morning, and came across a passage by Sri Chinmoy, where he makes a clear distinction between humility and unworthiness. I realised there are so many different interpretations of the quality. What is the true meaning?

I did not have a religious or overtly spiritual upbringing, and I am grateful to my family for not forcing any beliefs on me, but it seems quite funny now looking back on my first childly interpretations of religion, not really having a clue what any of it meant inwardly.

Auspicious Good Fortune is officially launched today, 27th of April 2012. I thought I would tell you the story of how it came to be, as this is a tale of mysterious good fortune in itself.

I still go at least twice a year to visit the place where Sri Chinmoy spent most of his time – once in April and once in August. Some things are naturally different since his passing in 2007, but some things are still the same.

I was eighteen months old when advertisements came out for a major exhibition in London. The image on the station wall beguiled me: a gigantic burial mask, two wide eyes in frames of kohl, a gentle smile of gold and a collar of precious stones.

Dogs were my first obsession, and from the time I could talk, I repeated an ardent desire to have one of my own. In the innocence of youth, my parents decided to grant my wish just before my brother was born. They soon discovered it was not their greatest plan.

Ashrita Furman has been in the UK news quite a bit this week, leading up to his next record breaking attempt in Brazil: to jump rope 900 times in an hour. Underwater. In an aquarium tank. Full of manatees.

I am to spend the weekend here in Wales with around 50 others. I travelled 5 hours to make a wish for peace; many have come much further than me, and some making a good part of the way on foot.

I am often reminded of a parable related by Ramakrishna to his disciples over a hundred years ago – a striking analogy of spiritual learning. As I recall, a tigress went to attack a herd of goats, but a hunter saw her and killed her. As she was dying she gave birth to a cub, who was left behind…

Gulls called constantly in the Sussex seaside towns. The sun had a peculiar intensity, and the wind was always keen. In such a town there was a row of Victorian terraced houses. One had barely changed its interior during its life of a hundred years. It was rented by two sisters: my grandmother and an aunt.